Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Monday, April 04, 2016

Stacks of fun – the man piling up books across NYC

Shaheryar Malik emptied his apartment of books by leaving them in huge heaps in public spaces across Manhattan. Many of them have since made their way around the world

Imagine getting rid of your entire library and starting afresh. This is exactly what Shaheryar Malik has done, in as dramatic a manner as possible.About a year ago, he decided he would leave stacks of about 40 of his books in several public spaces in New York until he was left with none. Eight times over, he piled them up in places such as the Brooklyn Bridge, the High Line or a subway platform, and just walked away.He has no idea what happened next, nor does he want to, as the whole point of this experiment was to avoid a digital trace (beyond one photograph for each stack).He wanted the experience to be reserved for those who were there at that very moment, he explained. The books ranged from everything from novels to gardening guides to photography and the fall of the Third Reich to fiction. He would put the tomes with the most unusual titles on top, such as The Decision Book: 50 Models for Strategic Thinking, or Physics for You, which has “such a beautiful illustration on the cover”, he says.This started a year ago, when Malik, an art director originally from London, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and got the urge to take a selfie. “Then I stopped and thought: ‘Instead of taking the picture that has been taken millions of times, I’m going to share something different with the world.’“A book moves you, touches you, annoys you. You’re on the Brooklyn Bridge, how about you transform yourself by travelling to this other world?” More